Talked to a old brewer who changed my whole process

Was at a flea market in Austin last summer and this dude in his 70s saw me buying glass carboys. He told me to stop obsessing over oxygen-free transfers and just let the yeast do its job with a wider mouth vessel. Said he's been making sour beers for 40 years without a single contamination. Been doing it his way for 6 months now and my ferments have been way cleaner. Has anyone else gotten game-changing advice from someone who's been at this forever?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseyrivera16d ago

And that's exactly the kind of wisdom you just can't buy in a book or a YouTube video. It's funny how we overthink things now with all this fancy equipment when the old timers just let nature handle it. I had a similar chat with a retired winemaker in Napa about temperature control. He told me to stop worrying about the perfect 68 degrees and just keep it in the basement where it's naturally cool. My wine has been way more balanced since then. I think we get so caught up in chasing the next gadget or technique that we forget the basics are usually enough. There's something to be said for trusting the process and the yeast.

uma_mitchell8316d ago

The bit about trusting the yeast really got me thinking. I tried that whole fancy starter thing from a kit once and it kept failing, so I just tossed some wild yeast from a neighbor's grapevine into my batch and it turned out amazing. Made this super funky but delicious plum wine that tasted like nothing I've ever bought. Sometimes the best stuff happens when you stop trying so hard and just let it ride.